Lovely Things

Christian Lacroix for La Redoute

Designer collaborations with High St brands are everywhere these days in fashion, so it's not surprising to see more crossover of this type in home furnishings as well. The Christian Lacroix pour La Redoute collection has just launched and includes a range of homeware items such as tables, bedding and rugs.

Most items are designed around a bright print theme, though, despite being a major print fan, I rather like this simple 'Gloriette' perspex and steel table in orange (£165). It reminds me of the lovely little Eames side table, with its wire frame base.

More unusual are items like the 'Noctopatte' table (below, £255) with its nine (count 'em!) mismatched legs.

Click through below to see more of the Lacroix collection...

Midcentury.Modern Show, Sun 30th March 2008

If you don't already know about the Midcentury.Modern show, you're in for a treat. This Sunday 30th March gives you the opportunity to check out items from some of the top UK dealers of well-known mid-century designs from the likes of Eames and Aalto, plus furniture and other stuff from great young British designers.

The show takes place at Dulwich College, London SE21 and is open from 10am to 4pm. See you there!

Zara Home to sell online from October 2007

I know this news will make Lovely Things readers extremely happy, Zara Home recently announced plans to open an online store next month. Woo hoo!

Around 2000 products from the current line will be available in 13 European countries: Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the UK.

More news as we have it...

Dwell furniture opens in Manchester, special offers

The new Dwell store in Manchester at 231-233 Deansgate is now open and they have some great offers available for their opening weekend. As well as 10% off all full-price products in-store, they have a limited number of their top-selling items available at huge discounts. The spider-leg swivelling office chair in brown is available at just £20 (usually £79) for the first 20 purchased at 11am on Saturday 1st Sept, and the first 20 cream bonded leather dining chairs sold at 1pm on Sunday 2nd Sept are priced at just £15 (usually £69). Sharpen those elbows!

Heal's up to 70% off bank holiday warehouse sale

Brace yourselves people! Heal's is having a bank holiday weekend, up to 70% off, warehouse sale. It starts at 9am on Saturday 25th and finishes at 4pm on Monday 27th August at the Heal's distribution centre in Edmonton, London (N9, near the A406 and the Brent Cross Ikea). Discounted items include this nickel and acrylic Malabar lamp reduced from £100 to just £30, and the Louis black lacquer console table by John Reeves (we featured the outdoor range in June), half price at just £248. 

Heal's 'Louis' range of outdoor furniture

Great legs! No, not you (though that's not to say you haven't), I'm talking about this gorgeous 'Louis' range of outdoor furniture from Heal's. In glavanised steel with a sexy zinc finish, these curvy beauties will give an elegant style to your alfresco arrangements whether you're having friends round for a drink or reading the Sunday papers with a cup of tea in your bathrobe. The table's £395 and the stools are £100 each. Who says outdoor furniture has to be boring?

Craigslist roundup: table, wicker chairs, vintage metal drawer unit

We've had eBay roundups on Lovely Things before, and when I was noodling around on Craigslist today, I saw a few items worth mentioning in the furniture listings. I actually rather want all these items myself, but as I've recently moved, I'm trying to shed furniture, instead of buying new pieces, so best I share these finds with you!

I'm a big fan of chunky rustic tables, and this French country-style wooden table is a great price at just £150. The honey colour and the big wide planks are very attractive, and it would make a lovely kitchen table if you have the room. Collect from Notting Hill, London.

Daily Telegraph House & Garden Fair 2007

Coming up at the end of June is this year's Daily Telegraph House & Garden Fair. Attractions include the 'Clouds of Scent' concept garden by designer Todd Longstaffe-Gowan, featuring a series of giant floating shapes hanging from the ceiling, workshops on interior colour schemes, lighting and gardens run by the KLC School of Design, plus a spotlight on contemporary young British designers and their work as part of the ISOS Collection. I'm impressed by the promo motif design they've gone with this year - half flower, half lamp ('Supernova' by Ferruccio Laviani for Foscarini). Gorgeous! See the show at London Olympia from 27th - 30th June and book tickets through the site.

Zara Home Spring/Summer 2007

Our posts on Zara Home are some of the most popular of this blog, and the one showing images from the Zara Home catalogue for Autumn/Winter is still going strong. But as we've been enjoying quite a bit of sunshine lately, it's about time we take a look at the Spring/Summer 2007 pictures.

This season is all about white, though still retaining the shabby chic/crumbling opulence influence that we saw last season. Some of the images look a little more 'Winter white' than summery, but the overall effect is very glamorous and looks like it would keep you very cool on a hot summer's day.

There were so many lovely pages in the catalogue that I had real trouble choosing just a few to show you, so click on the link below to feast your eyes on quite a handful of drool-eliciting rooms...

Dwell Warehouse Sofa Sale

Furniture and homewares store Dwell starts their sale of ex-display sofas and seconds tomorrow at their London warehouse. With prices slashed by up to 80%, it's a great time to bag a bargain. This chocolate three-seater sofa bed is usually £595 and has been reduced to just £180 - that really is a fantastic price (depending on the state of the particular sofa in question). The sale runs from 23rd to 31st December, excluding Christmas day, at the Dwell warehouse in South London.

Related: Heavily discounted sofas | Ex-showroom Designer Bargains | Bedding from Dwell